


Freedom

by Evilkitten3



Series: Jelano Weekend [3]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 04:32:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5694898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilkitten3/pseuds/Evilkitten3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She likes to think he's watching her, sometimes, but years go by and it doesn't stop hurting. (Jelano weekend, day three)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freedom

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I'll apologize in advance for the angst, but I couldn't think of anything, and angst is my default, so… yeah. Sorry.

It still hurts – weeks later, months later, probably years later too. She knows everyone can see it, but she doesn't know if they pity her because she never had a snowball's chance in hell or because now nobody does. There's no tension between her and Erza, really, but it hurts to be in the same room with the redhead, so Sorano avoids her whenever possible. She avoids Yukino and the rest of Crime Sorcière too, for a while.

"Can we talk?" Merudy asks one day. It's been a year, now, and she still wakes up with pain in her chest. She shrugs.

"We're talking right now," she says. Merudy sighs.

"That's not what I mean." But she doesn't push it, and Sorano is grateful for that.

Another year goes by, and then another, and the world keeps turning. Merudy smiles more often now, and Crime Sorcière is eventually pardoned for their assistance in the war, and Erik can talk to Kinana without everyone pretending he isn't.

Unsurprisingly, Erik and Merudy are the first to go. No one is quite sure when it happens, but at some point the Crime Sorcière mark is replaced with a Fairy Tail one, and no one questions it. Richard goes to Lamia Scale to see Jura and ends up staying. Sawyer falls in with the Quatro Cerberus crowd. Macbeth joins Blue Pegasus once Bob says he can sleep all he likes, so long as he's pretty (which he is).

Sorano stays. None of the others ask her why. They know better. She isn't a guild by herself, and she doesn't take any real jobs, but she still goes out and hunts Dark Guilds on her own.

"It isn't safe," Erik tells her. He doesn't think it'll dissuade her, but he feels obligated to point it out.

"It's better than nothing," she says.

"I'm sure you'd be welcome in Saber Tooth," Yukino tries. Her puppy dog eyes almost move her sister, but not quite.

"I don't belong there," she says.

"You could come to Lamia," Lyon offers.

"I'd rather not." She says. Blue Pegasus doesn't extend her an offer, and she's grateful for that. She isn't welcome there, and she appreciates them not trying to pretend otherwise. Sawyer tells the guys in Quatro Cerberus not to bother.

"She's already been in an all-guys guild," he explains, "she doesn't want to be in another one." He's not wrong. Fairy Tail makes several offers as well, but Sorano keeps the symbol of Crime Sorcière on her stomach. She doesn't want to let go.

"This isn't what he'd want," she hears. At first she thinks it's Erza, but the voice is wrong. It's a swordswoman, though – the one _he_ mentioned, the Mermaid Heel girl.

"You don't know," she says.

"I do, actually," Kagura tells her. "That's why I'm here. I don't know you, so I don't particularly care about you, but I care about Yukino, and I care about Erza, and I know that they care about you." She takes a deep breath. "And I know you lost someone special, someone who meant the world to you, but–"

"He gave me a choice," Sorano interrupts her. Kagura makes a confused sound, but the older woman doesn't turn to look at her. "He looked me in the eye and told me he would accomplish something impossible, for me. He knew my prayer, and he said he'd make it real. He made a promise."

"He would've kept it," Kagura says. "If he could've. That's the kind of person he was, I think. Erza said so." Sorano laughs. _Naivety_.

"You believe everything Erza says, then?" she asks.

"I believe in the man that Erza believes in," Kagura tells her. "I believe in the man my brother believed in."

"Your brother died fighting him," Sorano points out. Kagura shrugs.

"I think, deep down, he knew something was wrong," Kagura explains. "I think he stayed to try and save him."

"Didn't do a very good job,"

"That's your opinion."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm here because this is where Simon would want me to be," Kagura says. "I'm here because Yukino and Erza and Merudy and the others are worried about you. I'm also here because I think Jellal is worried about you too." The sound of his name makes Sorano flinch – everyone's been avoiding the topic around her, and the word sounds so strange and uncertain now.

"What do you want?" Sorano asks. She knows the answer, but she wants to be wrong, wants so badly for the younger girl to start a fight.

"The Grand Magic Games are in a month," Kagura tells her. "Thanks to Fairy Tail and Saber Tooth, Mermaid Heel ends up coming in third or fourth place every year. With your help, I think we can win." Sorano snorts.

"That's your sales pitch?" she asks, amused. "'Come help us play a game'?"

"Will you?" Kagura asks. Sorano thinks for a minute.

"Yeah, okay." She agrees. "Whatever."

This year, Fairy Tail and Saber Tooth will have to settle for second place.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Thanks for much for sticking with me these three days, guys. It's been a lot of fun. In fact, ya'll deserve an epilogue: Fairy Tail and Mermaid Heel tied for first place, with Saber Tooth one point behind them. The Games ended with a big fight between Team Fairy Tail (Freed, Merudy, Lisanna, Gray, and Evergreen) and Team Mermaid Heel (Kagura, Millianna, Sorano, Araña, and Risley). At the end, only Sorano and Evergreen were left standing, and the sass-fight that ensued was legendary. Sorano eventually won when one of her angels blinded Evergreen, allowing her to go in for the (metaphorical) kill. However, she wasn't sure which angel it had been, and when she summoned them to ask, all of them denied responsibility. When they looked at the lacrima recording to try and find out, they noticed that the light was tinged a very familiar shade of blue. Sorano Agria remained a member of Mermaid Heel until the day she died.


End file.
